Bruce Edward King II - Ed to family and friends - drove to Prairie View A&M University on Friday to pick up his friend Sarah Nichols and her friend Bryson Thompson.

The three teens, who all graduated from high school in May, were on their way back to the Bryan-College Station area on Texas 6 when they came upon an already gruesome scene. Investigators said four vehicles had piled up in the highway, and a dump truck had landed directly in King's path.


King tried to swerve, but his gold Nissan slid under the dump truck. The Texas Department of Public Safety said King and Thompson were killed instantly. Nichols was pulled from mangled wreckage and taken to College Station Medical Center, where she died within an hour, officials said.

"I didn't get much sleep last night. I've just been trying to piece it all together," DPS Trooper Jonathan Hunter said Saturday. "These were three outstanding teenagers trying to do the right thing and go to college and get their degrees. They were so young. They just graduated in May, and they had so much ahead of them."

Also killed was 32-year-old Deer Park resident Augustin Hernandez, whose pickup overturned in the original pileup and became engulfed in flames. Despite their efforts, passers-by were unable to free Hernandez from the cab of his truck and he died at the scene, DPS said.

Friends and family members of the three young victims found comfort Saturday in the memories of happier times.

King was a star high school football player, but he will be remembered for more than his role as a starting offensive lineman, said Lucious Clemmons, an assistant coach for the A&M Consolidated High School varsity football team.

"He was an extremely nice, Christian kid. He was very kind, very respectful and very soft-spoken," Clemmons said of the 18-year-old Blinn College student. "He had so much love in his heart, and so many people loved him."

Clemmons was at the King family's College Station home Saturday evening as friends and family members stopped to offer condolences.

"When you lose a child, the pain is excruciating. The family is taking it pretty hard, but they're taking it like any mother and father would," Clemmons said. "Everyone is having trouble with it. Everybody had heard about the wreck, but no one imagined who was involved. It just goes to show you that you never know what will happen. You can't pick the day and time."

Thompson, 18, was a freshman English major at Prairie View A&M University. His mother, Shirley Kohn, said her son's dream was to be a journalist, but he also had a passion for cooking and had tossed around the idea of becoming a chef.

"I used to call him 'Flipper' because he used to love to flip and was good at gymnastics," she said with a giggle. "Bryson was so smart. All the kids liked him, and he received nice reports from all his teachers. He was a good kid."

Kohn surrounded herself Saturday with family and friends, remembering Thompson, her only son - his smile, his laughter, his personality and his determination to make something of himself by earning scholarships and getting a quality education.

"He was the type of person that anyone could fall in love with," she said. "I miss him so much."

Nichols' family and friends gathered Saturday to pray and to help each other through the difficult time.

"We're with each other, consoling each other, remembering, crying, laughing and loving each other," Sarah's great-aunt, Connie Alverson, said. "We're loving Sarah, just like we'll always love Sarah."

The 17-year-old was getting a head start on life. She devoted her summers to taking classes so she could graduate from Bryan High School one year earlier than her classmates.

Nichols, who graduated from Bryan High School with Thompson and knew King through church, was a freshman education major at Prairie View A&M and aspired to teach the third grade at Neal Elementary School in her hometown.

"She knew exactly what she wanted to do. Her entire life was outlined," Alverson said with emotion. "She knew the Lord had plans for her."